


Monopoly Cats and Bloody Knives

by InsertImaginativeNameHere



Series: Detective AU [2]
Category: Baccano!
Genre: Again Elmer and Huey are such horrible detectives, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anachronistic, Animal Abuse, Animal Death, Baccanovember, Detective AU, Elements of canon used badly, Loose Adaptation of Canon, Mask Maker ot3, Multi, let them all BE HAPPY, so uh if you're ick abt animal death be warned, some actual plot, stop these nerds, there is reference to smth v v messed up tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-30
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-09-03 07:59:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8704087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsertImaginativeNameHere/pseuds/InsertImaginativeNameHere
Summary: Monica thinks over how she ended up working with the two idiots, how she ended up with a life this happy after all that. Until a case Elmer picks up on a whim threatens to destroy everything.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Merry end of Baccanovember!  
> a v v loose adaptation of 1705. Partly. Look I'm just snatching at elements of canon and throwing them tgt to make this AU alright. I've got a plan for how this arc concludes and ideas for what I want to do w material from 1710.  
> After that I have no idea because it's already modern AU but I do kind of want to end up writing into the future and have Isaac and Miria as mad scientists as TECHNICALLY part of this AU but also just...their own little thing.  
> Anyway. I'm trying.  
> This is structured similar to Partners in Crime Solving Crimes but slightly more chronological tbh  
> On with the show.

Part two: Monica

There were three of them, now and always. Curled up in blankets on the sofa watching crime shows in between cases. Having Mario Kart tournaments Elmer always seemed to somehow win, even blindfolded (he had to be cheating). Sometimes she would just watch those two idiots bickering over something as ridiculous as the right way to make pancakes or something as serious as making rent to keep the office, and she’d sort of half-smile because they were here and they were her friends. More than that. They were her stupid nerd boyfriends and she couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe everything had worked out, even if it was only for now.

And in amidst all the chaos and turmoil, that was enough.

It had to be, didn’t it? 

It could be so much worse, she knew this for a fact.

So, so much worse.

 

-

 

She’d become a detective recently enough. It had seemed like a good career move while reinventing herself - Monica Campanella was a cool name, in her mind it sounded like the perfect name for a smart female Private Eye, the way it rolled off the tongue, so she became a detective. And then she’d met Huey and it had seemed like the perfect career move, even if it did take a while to persuade him to work together. Their names on a door sign, Laforet and Campanella Investigations, sounded professional, elegant, smart. Sophisticated. Unfortunately, he didn’t buy this at first.

“Monica, I work best when I’m alone. Not being interrupted.” He said this politely, not in a way that could have been construed as rude or brusque. Polite, a gentle smile on his face, trying to let her down easily.

“Yes, but even Batman has Robin so…I just thought maybe it might be useful...we don’t have to actually work together on cases if you don’t want…” she trailed off, fiddling with her hands distractedly. “I-I mean, if you really don’t want to then I guess not, I just thought it might be nice to combine profits and rent a decent office.” Neither of them needed to comment on their current situation, operating out of a public library, using the computers there because neither of them could actually afford internet right now. Well - it wasn’t that Monica  _ couldn’t _ afford internet it was more complicated. She continued trying to persuade him, “With a sign on the door. It- it could be in fancy lettering.”

“Can’t you find someone better suited? There’s that weird guy I heard about in the papers, whatever his name is, the one who smiles a lot?” Huey suggested, sounding genuinely like he was trying to help. 

“I think it’s...um, I think it’s Elmer? I’ve n-never met him. He’s kind of new to the city, isn’t he?”

“Possibly,” Huey replied dismissively. “Look, I don’t think I’m much good at team-ups. I don’t know if I’d be a good partner. What made you want to work with me specifically anyway?”

Monica blushed. “W-well, we’ve sort of been seeing each other here in the library a lot and I-I-I really d-do like you so I thought maybe-”

Huey sighed. “You’ll have to give me some time to think about it.”

“M-maybe we could do a trial run? Do you have any cases right now?” Monica asked. She had another motive for asking Huey to collab with her - due to her reluctance to advertise (trying keeping a low profile) she had very few cases. If she could get Huey to do the advertising for her she could get cases from him. It’d work. 

Unfortunately, she was banking on one thing. 

That Huey would have cases too.

It was two weeks before a case finally came along and they both snapped it up, Huey not even objecting when Monica asked to tag along. He smiled. It may have been totally fake but it was something.

They became partners.

A few months later, they moved into a new office suite with fancy lettering on the door. ‘ _ Laforet & Campanella _ ’, it read, and Monica couldn’t have been happier.

 

-

 

“Ooooh why was the snake mad at the jewel thief?” Elmer said, on entering the scene of a robbery at the local jewel store. 

“Please no,” Huey muttered. 

“I don’t know,” Monica answered. “Why was the snake mad at the jewel thief?” 

“Because he wanted his  _ diamondback _ . Ey? Eyyyy?” 

“I hate you,” Huey muttered. 

“That’s not what you said the other niiiiight-”

“That’s exactly what I said the other night stop misquoting me.”

Monica smiled. Not for the reason Elmer had intended, but she smiled nonetheless. 

There was a cough behind them. “If you freelancers could get a move on before you contaminate the crime scene, that’d be most appreciated. And when I say that, what I actually mean is scram.” Victor was stood behind them, arms folded in irritation.

“We’re going, we’re going,” Huey muttered. 

“Bye Victor!” Elmer sang cheerfully, waving. “See you later!”

 

-

 

The first time Monica met Elmer was at the scene of a murder. Of someone’s cat. They’d been stapled to a tree (it would turn out to be a prank by a bunch of drunk frat boys but it had seemed really sinister and terrifying at the time). 

“Guess you could say it was a real  _ cat _ astrophe. Or maybe a catastro _ tree _ ,” Elmer piped up from the back of the crowd. “Anyone? Seriously, nobody? Okay, so it’s funny because it’s a cat nailed to a tree...a cat...astro...tree. Wait, astro implies space. Ignore the astro. And it sounds like catastrophe…” he trailed off. “Explaining it just kills the joke. Like whoever stapled the cat to a tree. Who does that? I mean, staples? Nails I could understand, but  _ staples _ ? Have you ever tried stapling through flesh?” 

The crowd had started to disperse, all with varying expressions of disgust and horror. The little girl whose cat it had been burst into tears and ran away. Only Monica was left standing there, looking up at the cat and then across at the grinning man who was waving a hello.

“Hey! I don’t think we’ve met! I’m Elmer! You’ve probably heard about me, right?” He inspected the cat’s corpse closely. “Wow, I wonder if they were wearing stilts when they did this, it’s pretty high up the tree.”

“Um...or maybe they just used a ladder?” Monica suggested awkwardly. She wasn’t actually sure how to react around this guy. He was pretty weird. 

“Nah. Probably stilts. 10 to 1.”

“Why?”

Elmer shrugged. “It’d be way more fun, wouldn’t it? I mean if you’re going to staple a cat to a tree, you might as well enjoy yourself while you’re struggling to get the stapler working and the cat’s clawing at you.”

“I think- I think maybe they killed the cat before stapling it to the tree? Maybe?”

Elmer shook his head. “Nope. You see the amount of blood here? If they’d killed it first, there’d have been way less blood, wouldn’t there?”

“Yeah,” Monica agreed. “Some of it’s probably theirs too. Since the cat probably fought back.”

“Yeah! Good thought! So we need to find someone covered in cat scratches.”

“We? I-I already have a partner. You know that, right?”

“You do?” Elmer looked stunned. “Honestly I didn’t know that. Who are you again?”

Monica opened her mouth to say something but was momentarily lost for words. “Monica. You know, Monica Campanella?”

“Ohhhh right. You’re the ones with the fancy door. You and that Laforet dude. The one with the really pretty hair. I know who you mean now.”

“Hey!” Monica objected. “How come you know who Huey is and not me? And why do you describe him as the one with the pretty hair? N-not that his hair isn’t really pretty but-”

“What?” Elmer raised his eyebrows. “You jelly?” Monica punched his arm. Hard. He only beamed in response. “I’ll take that as a yes. So you have a crush on him then? Details, details. C’mon, you can trust me.”

“We’ve only just met and you were making puns about a dead cat.”

“And?” Elmer  _ genuinely seemed confused _ by this. 

“O-okay,” Monica relented, somewhat nervous, looking around to make sure they didn’t get overheard. “Well-” She told him everything. How she met Huey photocopying case files at the local library. How he was always alone and didn’t seem to have anyone.  _ How she ended up falling for him.  _ Now they were working together and she wasn’t sure what to do next.

Elmer shrugged. “Ask him out. Go to dinner somewhere fancy. Get flowers. Unless he’s allergic to flowers. Check if he’s allergic to flowers  _ then _ get flowers. Find out what kind of food he likes and then go there. Find something he likes. Something that will make him smile.”

“I don’t know how well that’ll work but it’s...actually surprisingly good advice. Uh, thanks Elmer.”

“No problem!” Elmer replied, grinning. “See you, Moni-moni! Have a good date with Huey! I’m sure it’ll go great!”

Weirdly enough, it did.

Kind of weird, that, but Monica wasn’t complaining. She got to be with Huey. It was amazing. 

And Elmer solved the Catastrotree Case while she was distracted.

 

-

 

They were supposed to be having date night when Elmer didn’t show up. It was always possible he was late, he’d missed the bus, had no money for cab fare, but this didn’t stop Huey worrying. After the incident where Elmer had been captured, Huey had worried about him so much. It was adorable, especially his indignant denial whenever his concern was pointed out.

“He’ll be fine. He’s probably just running late.”

Huey was pacing the office. “I know. I know. I’m just tired of waiting. It’s annoying. That’s the problem.” He was blatantly lying, but Monica didn’t contradict him. Whatever he wanted her to think. She’d pretend she believed him, if it made him feel any better.

“He probably got distracted,” she said instead. “You know what he’s like. No attention span. I mean, one time he walked past a pet shop, saw all the shiny fish and went inside without telling me. I couldn’t find him for like five hours. Next thing I know, we’ve got a fish-tank,” she gestured at it, at the little orange-and-white clownfish swimming around in it. “And he’s named them all Dory out of some weird irony because that’s just his sense of humour. What I mean is,” she trailed off, shifting nervously. “E-Elmer’s fine, right?” She meant that to be a statement. It came out as a question.

“I don’t know,” Huey said with a tinge of irritation and rather more concern. “With the recent murders...though Elmer doesn’t fit the trend of victims, so that’s something. It’s still...it’s not reassuring.” That was all the concern he’d admit to. 

“It’s statistically unlikely,” Monica said, and that  _ was _ the truth. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. I’m more than 100% sure. Nothing’s going to happen to Elmer.” At least, not  _ that _ . She was sure of it. There was plenty else that might have gone wrong instead.

They were silent, possibilities running through their heads. Someone from a previous case might have made a move. There could have been an accident. Elmer might just have pissed the wrong person off, as he was wont to do. 

Maybe he was injured. Trapped. Killed. Maybe he’d just upped and vanished. 

Maybe he’d forgotten about date night and scheduled something else (and why did that hurt so much too, the idea that they were just one of Elmer’s flights of fancy - which they  _ were _ but it could be so easy to forget - and could be easily cast aside in search of other smiles). 

Maybe he was on his way now.

Maybe he wasn’t coming at all.

Huey stood up, making his way to the door to go looking for Elmer when the door swung open. Though Huey tried to keep his expression neutral, the relief that washed over him was palpable when they saw Elmer step through the door.

With a brown-haired girl. 

_ Who Monica recognised _ .

“Hey! Sorry I’m late for date night, but something came up,” Elmer was his usual oblivious self, like nothing was amiss. “Guys, I found us a client. We’ve got a case. Say hi!”

“Um, hi?” The girl began, awkwardly. “Look, this isn’t really a good idea, it’s fine, you don’t have to-”

“It’s fine,” Huey replied. “Elmer, if you’re going to be late, you need to call.”

“Worried about me? Aww, that’s so considerate of you. Thanks!” 

Huey rolled his eyes. “Does the client have a name?”

“Ask her,” Elmer shrugged.

“Fine. What’s your name?” 

The girl shifted. “Um...Niki,” she said quietly. “My name’s Niki.”

This was very,  _ very  _ bad.

 

-

 

It had happened at summer school.

Monica had read articles about campus assaults online, with the sort of morbid curiosity of someone who never expected it to happen to them. Because it wouldn’t. Because these things didn’t. At least, not at the expensive private university her parents had paid for her to go to for the summer break. 

She’d thought that happened to other people. People who were older than her, prettier, more eye-catching. 

Most students had gone home but there were some who had stayed on to help with the programme, coach some younger students for a bit of extra credit and experience. 

And it was one of them that made a move, from a rich family who in part helped fund the university. Reporting it would do nothing. She’d known that immediately. He’d offered to escort her back to her room, out of a pretense of safety.

Then tried to kill her.

_ On the day of parents’ visit day _ .

_ On the day her parents showed up to see their beloved daughter _ .

_ The door to the room hadn’t even been locked _ .

She’d seen them die and hadn’t even realised it at first, not rationally. 

While the murderer had been busy with them, he’d carelessly dropped a cigarette onto flammable bedding and maybe any other day the flame wouldn’t have taken and would have blown out, maybe any other day it wouldn’t have set alight.

Maybe.

That wasn’t what happened.

Next thing she knew, she’d found herself stabbing the murderer in the throat with the nearest sharp object to hand, a decorative ornament that nevertheless proved brutally effective. 

The fire spread.

The flames had taken.

Campus security showed up when the smoke alarms sounded and she’d been saved. As it so happened, a body had been found in the murderer’s room that was, with some bribery, used to pose as hers. And she’d vanished. Or  _ been _ vanished. Her brother had negotiated it somehow, some fancy lawyer talk from those years at law school he never used these days; having inherited everything, work was somewhat unnecessary.

She’d been vanished.

She’d learnt how simple a thing killing was.

That was how it began. 

The road to being the Mask Maker. 

 

-

 

There was a client in their office. They had a case. Date night had officially come to a screeching halt, thanks a lot Elmer. It was a reminder that whenever Elmer was presented with an opportunity to make someone else smile, he’d drop whatever plans they’d made together, drop everything, drop  _ them _ for the sake of a stranger he didn’t even know. For the sake of a  _ smile _ . Monica couldn’t stay annoyed with him though, he had this apologetic look on his face and fake or no (and she knew deep down it was ultimately fake) it was pretty endearing. 

Huey, on the other hand, wasn’t swayed by this and was still irritated with Elmer for the grief he’d caused earlier, when they’d thought he might have been hurt or kidnapped again or even killed. 

Was he mad at Elmer, she wondered, or himself?

Either way all plans for date night were on hold until further notice. They had a case to look into. As convoluted and implausible the whole thing sounded.

“What  _ exactly _ did you say happened again?” Huey asked with disdain. 

“There was this guy trying to grab her on the street and I intervened like any decent person would and as it turns out she’s got some whole conspiracy stuff going on and it’s absolutely wild, it’s the coolest case we’ll ever have. Ever. It’s so exciting!”

“Can we have the non-bullshit version of that please?” Huey eyed Niki suspiciously. “What  _ actually _ happened?”

“Uh...um, that’s...p-pretty much accurate you know?”

“Elmer’s not ‘any decent person’,” Huey retorted. “Anyone who’s ever spoken to him for more than five seconds knows he’s basically awful.”

“And I say such nice things about you too…”

“Do you? Since when?” 

“Since always!”

Niki was staring at them and shifting nervously. “I- I should go. There’s no point in me being here anyway. After all, I’m going to die soon anyway.”

Silence. The three exchanged looks. 

“Elmer, did you bring a Mask Maker witness to our office?” Huey asked, his voice completely level, barely reigning in his frustration. “Did you just go there?”

“Apparently!” Elmer grinned. “See? Coolest case ever!”

“You mean case that could get us all killed,” Huey muttered. Monica occupied herself with sorting through files, pretending like nothing had happened, nothing  _ was _ happening. 

“You don’t have to all get killed,” Niki interrupted. “I’ll j-just go. It’s okay. You don’t have to put yourselves in danger over me.”

What did you say to that? What could even be said? Monica realised if this continued she might have to come clean about the Mask Maker, that she might end up in a position where she would lose these two guys she cared about. Or, well, at least Huey. Elmer would forgive her almost immediately at the promise of a smile; however, Huey…Huey would be more difficult. She couldn’t lose him. She loved him far too much. 

She  _ loved him _ .

Before Monica could say anything, Elmer spoke up. “So...dying would make you happy, then?” His head was tilted and he was studying Niki curiously. 

Niki hung her head. “It’d be better than what my life is.”

“You’ve never had anything to smile about in life yet, have you?” Niki looked confused and Elmer continued, “Right, that’s it, we’re taking your case.” 

“W-why?”

“Elmer…” Huey’s voice had a tone of warning to it.

Elmer beamed. “So we can give you the kind of life to smile about, of course! Don’t worry Niki, we’ll get to the bottom of this. And you don’t have to worry about paying us, that’s all good. Rent’s paid a couple of months ahead because Huey’s obsessive about it.”

“I am NOT obsessive, Elmer-”

“Says the guy who alphabetizes his case notes.”

“That’s just good organisation,” Huey retorted. “You wouldn’t understand because you make all your notes into little origami animals. I couldn’t find a write-up of that jewel theft case because you’d turned it into a pterodactyl. It went to trial, Elmer! I needed those notes! I’m not obsessive just because I’m neater than you.”

Elmer smirked and threw a paper plane at Huey’s head. Monica absently wondered which case that plane had been. “Anyway. Ignoring him. We’re taking your case. We’re going to make you happy.”

A small choking noise. 

Niki was crying.

Huey and Monica exchanged a look. Neither of them could turn her away now, could they? For one thing there was no point in arguing with Elmer and then there was the fact Niki was crying right there and then in their office. She couldn’t know that Elmer was only helping her out of selfishness but the fact he was helping her at all was utterly foreign to her. That was important.

So they’d taken the case. After not even intending to.

Whoops.

 

-

 

Elmer had stashed Niki at his place (the fact he actually  _ lived  _  somewhere was a new concept because he seemed to just haunt the office with weirdness) and returned to the office, so now they were looking through various files and notes, scouring google and, in Elmer’s case, using a monopoly board to represent the city and the pieces to symbolise people.

“So, if the cat represents the Mask Maker and the dog represents the police, we can have the top hat for the elites, the uh...wheelbarrow for the people after Niki? And let’s say the thimble represents the forgers, the boot is for the victims, the battleship is for the drug dealers, and we’re the tiny little car, how many areas of overlap do you think we have?”

“Does any of this make sense  _ inside _ your head, Elmer, let alone in the real world?” 

“If we let him ramble he might get somewhere,” Monica murmured. As if that wasn’t a very real concern.

“So the cat is killing the boot-people and the dog doesn’t really care what the cat does because the boot-people are not hats. Which suggests police corruption on behalf of either the hats or the wheelbarrows. If a boot-person sees the cat that boot-person dies. If anyone sees the cat, that person dies. The hats have a get out of jail free card because they’re hats. Hats are buying from the battleship. With money from the thimble.” Elmer tapped all the pieces to indicate them when he mentioned them, occasionally moving them slightly on the board in a way that really didn’t make much sense and went against all rules of monopoly. When he mentioned the forgers, he picked out the monopoly money and rifled through it. “Theoretically, any of the pieces could also be any of the other pieces. The wheelbarrow could be the thimble, or the battleship, or the battleship could be the thimble. The dog could be the wheelbarrow. The boot-people might even be the cat. Or us, the little car-” he picked it up and inspected it closely. “Huh. I don’t know where this is going. Never mind.” He folded the board up, sweeping the pieces aside. “You’re right Huey, none of that  _ did _ make any sense. We definitely need more information.”

He shoved the board carelessly back in the box, picking up most of the pieces and putting them back in without thought, except the cat which had rolled further and sat next to Monica’s foot. She picked it up, turned it over in her hands and tossed it back to Elmer.

Who thought nothing of it and thanked her, not even knowing how close he had been to landing right on the truth.

_ Cats stapled to trees while they were alive. A monopoly cat.  _

_ A catastrotree. _

She had to stop him investigating.

Before this got any worse.

 

-

 

They went to a theme park one day. Officially to check out a case they were on, of a young woman who was certain she was being stalked. She worked at a theme park so saw a lot of guests and it was hard to prove anyone was there specifically to harass her. They’d been hired to keep an eye out for the woman’s ex-boyfriend in amidst all the crowds.

They didn’t end up having to do much because the guy ended up making a scene and getting hauled off by security without their intervention, but they had free fastrack passes for the park anyway so decided to make the most of it and spend the rest of the day doing whatever they wanted. 

Elmer for one was in his element. It was like this place had been designed for him. After going on one particularly outrageous ride, he demanded they buy the ride photo for their office. 

“Oh come on Elmer, that doesn’t count as a smile,” Huey insisted. “That’s an involuntary response caused by the adrenaline.”

“Still counts. We’re framing it.”

Monica watched them and smiled.

This was how life should be.

 

-

 

This was the life she stood to lose.

 

-

 

That night, after date night finished, she followed Elmer home. Wherever it was he  _ actually _ lived anyway. She made an excuse to leave early, kissed them both goodbye and picked up her Mask Maker gear, before waiting for Elmer to emerge. Eventually he and Huey left the office, still bickering over something, Elmer grinning and kissing Huey quickly and darting away abruptly, grinning. The fact he did this multiple times was the kicker, Huey looking increasingly frustrated until he managed to catch Elmer and hold him still for a proper kiss. They then parted ways, Huey heading back to his place, where Monica and Elmer had both been several times, and Elmer going to whatever mysterious land he  _ actually _ lived in. 

From the rooftops, Monica tailed him, always careful not to be seen. Not that Elmer was even looking. He walked along cheerfully, same as always, destination - unknown. Along a couple of sidestreets, shortcuts apparently, then along a particular street and up a hill toward a very specific house that  _ definitely _ didn’t belong to him, firstly because it was fancy as hell, more a manor than anything, and secondly because Monica knew precisely who owned that house.

Her damn brother.

What the hell was  _ Elmer _ doing making his way up to the gates, as though it were nobody’s business? Greeting one of the staff on a smoke break who smiled and waved back. So they  _ knew _ him here, he came here often.

He  _ lived _ here.

Elmer lived with her brother? She was renting an apartment above a patisserie but Elmer lived with her brother and there was no problem with that.

She knew the context was entirely different but still. Still. 

This unleashed countless terrifying possibilities. She didn’t even suspect Elmer even  _ knew _ her brother and apparently he did. Maybe he knew who she was all along. Maybe he reported back to him about what she was doing, Esperanza had hired him as a P.I. to track his little sister. Or maybe he had no idea. That was the option Monica wanted to believe.  _ Please, please let Elmer be who he says he is. Please let him be genuine in his ridiculous, smile-obsessed way.  _ If all of this had turned out to be fake now…

No, it couldn’t be. You simply couldn’t fake being Elmer. It was an impossible feat. Elmer was Elmer.

Whether he knew about her relation to Esperanza or not, he had to drop Niki’s case.

_ Had to. _

Before everything fell to pieces in their hands. 

She found a spot to vault the fence and crept up toward the house, using an infrared pointer to blind the motion-sensitive floodlights for a few seconds while she got close enough to the building for them to no longer be an issue.

Now. Time to scale the walls. She knew she could do that; the dated architecture had clear footholds and handholds, bricks sticking out. She remembered reading about the three-point-rule as a child, always keep three points of contact between yourself and the surface in question. She didn’t really need to keep this in mind these days, she was good enough not to need it, but it reminded her of a happier time. When escapades like this were in crime novels she wasn’t strictly speaking allowed to read, up on the higher shelves where the adults put them out of the way. Sometimes her brother would get them down, if he were feeling particularly indulgent, which wasn’t all that often - when it came to her, his interest could wane, as it never did when other girls were involved. 

She almost headed for the main guest bedroom, but no. That was reserved for female guests and Niki would be there now. Elmer would be in the third best bedroom, a couple of windows along.

No hardship.

Monica knew she could get in anyway.

That wasn’t the hard part.

The hard part was figuring out what to do when she  _ did _ get in that would force him to drop Niki’s case without giving away her identity.

She’d figure something out.

She knew what she was doing, behind this mask. She knew what kind of terrible monster she was, unworthy of this life that had landed in her lap.

She knew there was nothing that entitled her to fight to keep it. That if it slipped away she would deserve it completely. That she would deserve everything that came her way.

But despite all that, she didn’t want to lose them.

Taking a deep breath, she approached the window.

 

-

 

Blood on her knife.

Elmer would recover without issue. Hopefully the point she’d been trying to make would have wormed its way into his thick, oblivious skull.

...much as the point of the blade had wormed its way into his shoulder.

Elmer would recover without issue.

Their life would be safe.

 

-

 

So she told herself.

Everything would be fine. Everything would go as planned.

Everything would  _ finally  _ be okay.

 

-

 

For now, anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to keep this interesting without regurgitating what we already know. Let me know if you think it worked, or if you have any ideas for things you'd like to see in this AU. Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
